Why you really can't always believe what you read in the news…

Menu

Tag Archives: Aftab Ali

Universities with the cheapest and most expensive pints of beer revealed in MoneySupermarket research

Accommodation: check. Car insurance: check. Home insurance: check. Cost of the average pint of beer: let’s have a look.

New research from the UK’s leading price comparison website, MoneySupermarket, has revealed the best and worst value universities in the UK for students, coming just at the time while hundreds of thousands are preparing to head to their chosen institution.

Who’d have thought that a price comparison website would compare the price of beer? Well, anyone who realises that the MoneySupermarket PR team will be trying to use the start of the university term to convince students to use their price comparison tool to buy contents insurance for their new university residences… and students love beer, right?

Number of parents moving to their desired school catchment area is increasing, according to Santander research

The extent to which parents are resorting to to live within their desired school catchment area has been revealed in new research from Santander Mortgages as competition for places at the UK’s best schools continues to increase.

The bank surveyed just over 4,500 people to find families are prepared to spend over £32,000 to be near their most sought after school – significantly more than the average full-time UK salary of £27,195.

Having kids is hugely expensive (I’m told), and buying a house is hugely expensive (I know) – so it stands to reason that buying a house as a parent comes with particularly expensive demands. Still, an extra £32,000 on average? That’s no small amount. What civic-minded institution can we thank for paying for this ‘research’ to appear in the media?

The study by lender Santander says a quarter were forced to downsize to a less attractive home while 31 per cent moved to an area they did not like.

The angle is clear: convince parents that they ought to be aiming high to keep up with the Jones’, and then be the ones to hold their hand when they over-stretch on the mortgage. Fortunately, that’s the kind of dependable and risk-free system sound economic models are based on, with no history of ever having gone wrong in the past…

Santander’s Miguel Sard said: “Being within a certain school catchment area can often come at a cost.

It’s important that parents don’t stretch themselves beyond their means.”

Wise words, Mr Sard, but we’d be more inclined to take them at face value in something other than a glorified advert for your services.

Bank says only 7% would consider becoming an apprentice which shows ‘there is still a lack of awareness’

The average school-leaver expects to earn an annual salary of almost £90,000 at the height of their career – despite the UK average being £26,500, according to new Santander research.

The bank, which is one of the UK’s biggest personal financial service providers, spoke with almost 500 Year 11 students to gain an insight into their career attitudes to discover they think they’ll be taking home £89,000.

First off, it’s worth highlighting that the story in both papers is merely a trimmed down version of a press release by Santander – meaning no original journalism, or likely even fact-checking, was done by either the Metro or the Independent in this case:

This is particularly telling, as the press release wasn’t overly interested in kids’ earnings over their career as it was advertising Santander’s apprenticeships, as we can see from the quote in the Independent coverage:

The results also showed how apprenticeships are being perceived among the group: only seven per cent would consider becoming an apprentice which, Santander said, shows there is still a lack of awareness amongst young people of the career benefits and opportunities available through becoming one.

HR director at Santander, Vicky Wallis, described how there is the perception amongst young people that apprenticeships are only for ‘hands on’, manual professions.

While young people have a good understanding of the value of college and university, she said, there is a significant number who are unaware of the benefits of apprenticeships.

She added: “We need to encourage young people to look into the vast number of opportunities available to them through apprenticeships and the multitude of sectors involved, such as banking.”

As for the kids and their sky-high salary expectations, while what they want to earn might not be too closely aligned to reality, to have this pointed out by workers in the banking industry is something of a pot and kettle scenario.